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Aliens DVD

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Does anyone have the Aliens Director's Cut dvd that was released this past January? I have the old "Aliens Special Edition" dvd, and it's extremely grainy. Is that fixed on the DC? And are the added scenes any good?
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The directors cut is the DVD with the added scenes.

The new DVD release allows the option of playing the shorter theatrical cut also.

The transfer is great.

Buy the R1 Quadrilogy, I did, it's worth it.
"The people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the peacemakers for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country." - Goering.

"If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it." - Goebbels.

"In times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act." - Orwell.
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I agree. George Lucas should take example and have the option of playing which version you prefer. And the special edition of Alien3 is one of the most amazing things I have ever seen.
Don't forget: with Lacuna, you can forget.
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Are there any differences between the Region1 and Region2 of the Alien Quadrilogy?

I'm thinking of getting it - tho wasn't sure which to get, and did a rumour that there may be differences...

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The Quadrilogy is packed with great stuff. Exactly how a package should be offered to the public, especially if there are theatrical and alternate versions.

If you have the funds, it's highly recommended.

Kevin
"For God so loved the world, that He gave His one and only Son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish, but will have eternal life." The Holy Bible - John 3:16
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Can someone post a screenshot from the Aliens D.C.? I'd like to compare the quality to the ones I already have. I'm probably going to get the quadrilogy, but I'd like to see how it looks compared to the old copies first.
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Are you asking for picture comparisons of Alien or Aliens? Apologies of the confusion, it's just that Alien is the one that can be viewed as a new "Director's Cut" through seamless branching, and Aliens is the one that can be viewed as a "Special Edition" through seamless branching (it was always the Special Edition version on DVD before).

I have DVDs of both the Quadrilogy versions and older versions, so I could make screens for you. I've taken a look now, and I can tell you that the transfer for Alien is quite a bit sharper and has higher contrast than its previous version, but the transfer for Aliens is virtually identical to its previous version.


oojason: There is one negative difference between R1 and R2 of the Quadrilogy. The R1 commentary tracks run through both versions of each film, which gives more/alternate commentary for new seamlessly branched new scenes. The R2 only has commentary for the Theatrical Cuts of each film. So there's a bit less commentary.
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Also the R1 has a scene marker subtitle track letting you know which scenes are new. It's a good feature if you don't know the various cuts of the films backwards.

But the R2/R4 versions, being 'international' versions, drop this useful track in favour of multiple foreign language subtitle tracks in such useful languages as Swahili, Farsi, Latvian, Slovenian, Hebrew, Martian and others.

Go R1, it has a better box too.
"The people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the peacemakers for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country." - Goering.

"If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it." - Goebbels.

"In times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act." - Orwell.
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I was asking for a comparison between the old Aliens dvd and the Aliens dvd from the quadrilogy, but nevermind. I went ahead and bought the quadrilogy today. I watched Alien and Aliens on a big wide projector TV, they looked great. The transfer on Aliens was much, much better...the old one was painfully grainy.

On the back of the box all the movies say director's cut 2003, except for Aliens, which says 1993 (or something close to that). Is the new Aliens dvd the same as the old one, just better quality? I didn't notice anything different about it, so I'm guessing it's the latter.

The box is extremely annoying though. God help anyone who needs to get to disc 1 and doesn't have acces to a clear table to fold the box out.

I usually only venture away from R1 when it comes out more than 3 months advance...such was the case with all the Family Guy dvd's, as well as 28 Days Later and Johnny English...and a lot of the Doctor Who dvds only come out in england.
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Alien, Alien3 and Alien Resurrection are released in this set with alternate cuts that haven't been on DVD before. The alternate cuts for all of them are very new.

Aliens, however, had its alternate cut made back in the early 90s. That's when its "Special Edition" came out on video. It's 20 minutes longer than the plain old version. Since then, the Special Edition kinda became standard. The previous DVD version of Aliens was the Special Edition.

So what you have on DVD now is both the original theatrical version (that you may not have seen), and the Special Edition (that you're used to) via seamless branching. Try choosing the original cut when the disc prompts you, and see if you can spot the 20 minutes of scenes that aren't in it.

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Did the new footage in Alien3 and Alien Resurrection do them any good? Is it worth sitting through them again?
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Originally posted by: D0CT0R_W40
Does anyone have the Aliens Director's Cut dvd that was released this past January? I have the old "Aliens Special Edition" dvd, and it's extremely grainy. Is that fixed on the DC? And are the added scenes any good?


Id say the restoration on Alien beets Star Wars. I didn't believe a film that old could look that good. Personally I find the directers cut to be the better version of the movie.
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What about Alien? A movie that old has no business looking so good.
Don't forget: with Lacuna, you can forget.
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Originally posted by: D0CT0R_W40
On the back of the box all the movies say director's cut 2003, except for Aliens, which says 1993 (or something close to that). Is the new Aliens dvd the same as the old one, just better quality? I didn't notice anything different about it, so I'm guessing it's the latter.


The ALIEN "Director's Cut" was made in 2003 even though Ridley Scott's preferred version (his true DC) is the 79 theatrical version.

ALIEN3 was put out in 93 and it was a completely ridiculously different version than what David Fincher wanted. So in 2003 some producers re-created a version as close to Fincher's version as possible, but he has disowned the film, so it does not have his stamp of approval.

ALIEN RESURRECTION was shitty in 97, and adding in all the cut scenes in 2003 for the DVD makes it worse if anything, and Jean-Pierre Jeunet's preffered version is the 97 theatrical run.

Now ALIENS, James Cameron was dissapointed in the eighty-something theatrical version (I want to say 87, but I believe it is wrong...) Around the time ALIEN3 came out he was given the opportunity to create a Director's Cut, which he opted to call the Special Edition (George Lucas anyone?). That's why the SE of Aliens says 93 or whatever when every other one is 2003 - it is the only one not specifically created for the DVD.

And don't bother sitting through Resurrection . . . still the worst film ever made. Personally I've always thought 3 was underrated, but the new "Extended" edition is MUCH MUCH MUCH better, watch that and don't turn on the deleted footage marker because there are scenes where it's nearly impossible to hear because production audio couldn't be recovered, and they weren't looped, so you need the subtitles they provide. But it's a much more complete version of the film.
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Awesome, I'll have to watch Alien3 then.

But no matter how bad Alien Resurrection is, or any other bad movie for that matter...at least we can feel comfortable knowing that it's not as bad as Highlander 2.
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I actually sorta liked Highlander 2 director's cut...nowhere near as good as the original, but then there's highlander 3...ugh...
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OK, BOTTOM LINE: is the 'newest' release of AlienS DVD better transfer-wise than the previously released SE?? Sorry to be so blunt, but I asked this in a previous thread, and got mixed answers, similiar to this thread.

If you have both, by all means pop'em in and tell us!!
40,000 million notches away
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It's the same transfer, but the bitrate is considerably higher, resulting in a more detailed image. It's still grainy, but Cameron has always said that he intended this film to have a grainy, war documentary type of look and had his DOP push the film stock for that effect. Plus, this is the only film of the series shot flat (1.85:1), which will almost always result in a granier image (less of the frame is used).

Princess Leia: I happen to like nice men.
Han Solo: I'm a nice man.

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Excellent! Thank you very much.

Carry on with the Alien discussion...
40,000 million notches away